Atmospheric electricity

Japanese: 大気電気 - たいきでんき(英語表記)atmospheric electricity
Atmospheric electricity

An electrical phenomenon that occurs in the Earth's atmosphere. It is also called meteorological electricity. There are various meteorological disturbances in the atmosphere that generate electricity. For example, raindrops and snowflakes all carry a slight electric charge. The dust particles in a sandstorm are highly charged. Of these, lightning is the most notable example of electrical generation. In thunderclouds, strong convection causes highly charged snowflakes and raindrops to fall, polarizing the entire cloud. In a normal thundercloud, positive charges accumulate at the top and negative charges accumulate at the bottom. When this accumulation exceeds a limit, a lightning discharge occurs to neutralize the charge.

The atmosphere surrounding a thundercloud is more conductive at higher levels, so some of the charge in the thundercloud leaks into the sky and spreads to the entire Earth. Electrical phenomena in the atmosphere thus show various aspects depending on meteorological disturbances that generate electricity, such as lightning, the movement of the atmosphere that surrounds it, and the electrical properties described below. Some of the air molecules, such as nitrogen, oxygen, and other trace component molecules, are ionized by radiation from cosmic rays and natural radioactive materials, and after a series of complex reactions, they form a fairly stable mass of charged molecules. These are called small ions in the atmosphere. Since small ions move due to electrical forces, their flow becomes an electric current in the atmosphere. In other words, the atmosphere is not a perfect insulator, and its electrical conductivity depends on the amount of small ions it contains. When the atmosphere becomes polluted and aerosols (floating particles, aerosols, also called aerosols) increase, the number of small ions decreases. On the other hand, the number of large ions that are produced when small ions combine with aerosols increases. In this way, the electrical properties of the atmosphere are deeply related to environmental issues.

[Hiroo Misaki]

"Sky Electricity" by Kanehara Jun (1944, Kawade Shobo)""Meteorological Electricity" by Hatakeyama Hisanao and Kawano Minoru (1955, Iwanami Shoten)""The Science of Clouds and Lightning" by Magono Nagaharu (1969, NHK Publishing)""The Science of Lightning" by Hatakeyama Hisanao (1970, Kawade Shobo Shinsha)""Atmospheric Electricity" edited by Kitagawa Shinichiro, Kawasaki Zenichiro, Miura Kazuhiko, and Michimoto Koichiro (1996, Tokai University Press)""The Science of Lightning and Thunderclouds - How to Protect Yourself from Lightning" by Kitagawa Shinichiro (2001, Morikita Publishing)""An Introduction to Atmospheric Electricity, edited by the Japan Society of Atmospheric Electricity (2003, Corona Publishing)"

[References] | Ions | Aerosols | Lightning | Dust storms | Atmosphere | Atmospheric electricity

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

地球大気中におこる電気現象。気象電気ともいう。大気中には発電作用を伴うさまざまな気象擾乱(じょうらん)がある。たとえば雨滴や雪片はいずれも多少の電荷を帯びている。砂嵐(すなあらし)の砂塵(さじん)は強く帯電する。これらのうちもっとも著しい発電作用を示すものが雷である。雷雲の中では激しい対流作用の結果、強く帯電した雪片や雨滴が落下するので、雲全体が分極する。通常の雷雲では上部に正電荷が、下部に負電荷が蓄積する。この蓄積量が限度を超えると電光放電がおこって中和する。

 雷雲を取り囲む大気は、上層ほど導電性がよいので、雷雲内の電荷の一部は上空へ漏出し、全地球に広がる。大気中の電気現象はこのように、雷などの発電作用をもつ気象擾乱と、それを包む大気の運動や、次に述べる電気的特性により、さまざまな様相を示すのである
 空気分子、すなわち窒素、酸素、その他の微量成分の分子などの一部は、宇宙線や自然放射性物質からの放射線を浴びて電離し、続いておこる複雑な諸反応を経たのちにやや安定な帯電分子塊を形成する。これを大気の小イオンという。小イオンは電気力によって運動するので、その流れは大気中の電流となる。すなわち、大気は完全な絶縁体ではなく、それが含む小イオンの多寡に応じた導電性をもつのである。大気が汚染されエーロゾル(浮遊微粒子、煙霧質。エアロゾルともいう)が増すと、小イオンが減少する。その反面、小イオンがエーロゾルと結合して生ずる大イオンが増加する。このように大気の電気的性質は環境問題とも深くかかわっている。

[三崎方郎]

『金原淳著『空電』(1944・河出書房)』『畠山久尚・川野実著『気象電気学』(1955・岩波書店)』『孫野長治著『雲と雷の科学』(1969・日本放送出版協会)』『畠山久尚著『雷の科学』(1970・河出書房新社)』『北川信一郎・河崎善一郎・三浦和彦・道本光一郎編著『大気電気学』(1996・東海大学出版会)』『北川信一郎著『雷と雷雲の科学――雷から身を守るには』(2001・森北出版)』『日本大気電気学会編『大気電気学概論』(2003・コロナ社)』

[参照項目] | イオン | 煙霧質 | | 砂塵嵐 | 大気 | 大気電気学

出典 小学館 日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について 情報 | 凡例

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